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Toronto rappers 'spit' about value of college education

TORONTO, Dec. 15 /CNW/ - Six high-profile Toronto rappers, including Famous and Rochester, performed at Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto today to help encourage students to think about their plans for furthering their education after high school.

"This is a fun and entertaining way to help get students thinking about higher education and their plans for the future," said Linda Franklin, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario. "We are encouraging students to explore all of the options available to them, including the wide range of programs available at Ontario's 24 public colleges."

As part of the event, the Jarvis students were encouraged to record their own rap videos about higher education, as part of a provincewide contest organized by Colleges Ontario. The videos will be posted online and the most popular video at the high school, based on online votes, will win that student rapper a netbook portable computer.

The other professional rappers who visited the high school today were Masia One, Theo3, Shaun Boothe and Blake Carrington. The rappers belong to the Urban Music Association of Canada and three of them - Rochester, Theo3 and Carrington - are college alumni.

The visit to Jarvis Collegiate was part of the Ontario colleges' campaign promoting the career options available through a college education. The colleges have been running advertisements that promote the message "It's all about M.E.", encouraging students to pursue the higher education options that best suit their interests and strengths.

The $2.5-million advertising campaign, which began earlier this year and continued this fall, included ads on television, radio and the Internet, along with newspaper and transit shelter ads.

The contest tour for students has been visiting high schools in 18 communities across the province, from Ottawa to Thunder Bay. All participants receive a T-shirt and pamphlet and the winning videos will be posted on the myeducation.me and leducationcestmonaffaire campaign websites. People can vote for their favourite videos until Dec. 31, 2009.

This is an excellent time for students to be learning about college education and training. Ninety per cent of college graduates who enter the workforce get jobs within six months of graduation and there will be an even greater demand for college graduates in the years ahead as the baby boomers retire.

Ontario colleges serve about 200 communities throughout the province, delivering a wide range of career-focused education and training programs to more than 200,000 full-time and 300,000 part-time students

For more information, visit myeducation.me or leducationcestmonaffaire.ca